Monday, July 12, 2004

Republicans for Environmental Protection

In the interest of showing how non-hateful liberals can be, I have
added a Republican website to my blogroll: REP America, or Republicans
for Environmental Protection. From their homepage:

Welcome
to REP
America...the
national grassroots organization of Republicans for Environmental
Protection"the environmental conscience of the GOP""Conservation
is a great moral issue, for it involves the patriotic duty of ensuring
the safety and continuance of the nation." --President Theodore
Roosevelt"I do not intend that our natural resources shall be
exploited by the few against the interests of the many." --President
Theodore Roosevelt

"REP America represents the very best
of the Republican Party. It’s pragmatic. It advocates policies that are
good in their own right. It represents the mainstream of Republican
thought. I encourage all conservation-minded Republicans to join me in
supporting the work of REP America." -- Theodore Roosevelt IV,
Lifetime Member of REP America

REP America, the national grassroots organization of Republicans for
environmental protection, is disappointed with the Bush
administration's performance in managing our national parks, the crown
jewels of America's natural, cultural, and historic heritage.

We were encouraged two years ago when President Bush promised to
restore and renew the parks. However, the administration's actions
since then have, with some exceptions, put our national park system at
greater risk.

Polluted air endangers Great Smoky Mountains, Sequoia/Kings Canyon, and
other parks. Yet the administration has weakened cleanup requirements
for old, dirty power plants.

Unmanaged off-road vehicles are tearing up public lands throughout the
West. Yet the administration has opened the door to an ORV onslaught in
Western national parks through a rule that could validate dubious
highway right-of-way claims asserted by state and local governments
inside park boundaries.

Noisy snowmobiles are spreading pollution and harming wildlife in
Yellowstone National Park, America's oldest. Yet the administration has
dismissed the concerns of park scientists and proposed a policy that
would increase snowmobile use.

Inadequate funding has led to deterioration of park resources
nationwide. Yet the administration has not requested sufficient funding
to eliminate the parks maintenance backlog, as promised, or to meet
current operating needs.

In a few cases, the Bush administration has done right by the parks.
Federal funding will be available for restoring Everglades National
Park. A commitment has been made to buy out oil and gas leases at Big
Cypress National Preserve. The administration has backed up the Park
Service's recommendation to close a damaging road in Canyonlands
National Park. A proposal to build huge jetties at Cape Hatteras
National Seashore has been shelved.

The Bush administration can improve its park stewardship record, but a
significant change in direction is necessary. REP America recommends
that the administration support, at a minimum, the following:

Legislation
requiring all fossil fuel power plants to meet modern pollution control
standards by a fixed date without exceptions.

Blocking
all asserted highway right-of-way claims in all national parks,
national monuments, national wildlife refuges, and all wilderness areas
and wilderness study areas.

Restoring the 2000 rule phasing out
snowmobiles from Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and the John D. Rockefeller
Memorial Parkway.

Park budgets that will fully fund
operational needs and eliminate the parks maintenance backlog within
five years.

Full funding of Land and Water
Conservation Act purchases, totaling $900 million, half for federal
land acquisition.

Retaining the President's authority
under the Antiquities Act to establish national monuments on public
lands.

Congressional designation of
wilderness areas recommended by the Park Service.

As
Republicans, we cherish the national parks heritage that our nation's
past leaders, both Republicans and Democrats, established and expanded
on our behalf. Our national parks connect Americans with our country's
land and history in tangible, irreplaceable ways. We call on the Bush
administration to honor our past and take responsibility for our future
by becoming better stewards of our heritage today. Prepared by Jim DiPeso Policy Director

The link below goes to a dummy account that automatically forwards email to the Federal Trade Commission's spam reporting service. Don't use it unless
you are a robot. Instead, act like a human and figure out the real address from this: joseph/dot/j7uy5/at-sign/gmail/dot/com

The Corpus Callosum is an occasional journal of armchair musings, by an Ann Arbor reality-based, slightly-left-of-center regular guy who reserves the right to be highly irregular at times.
Topics: social commentary, neuroscience, politics, science news.
Mission: to develop connections between hard science and social science, using linear thinking and intuition; and to explore the relative merits of spontaneity vs. strategy.